


Now that you know

by TheDogPotato



Series: Bear in mind: I love you [1]
Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 02:16:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8559448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDogPotato/pseuds/TheDogPotato
Summary: When DI Norroy steps in to take over a case from the Whitechapel team, she reveals a bit too much about Kent’s feelings for Chandler.





	

The incident room was buzzing with activity. A man had been found strangled and tied up with his limbs spread out as far as possible. The woman who found him was his co-worker and friend. She had worried when he hadn’t come into work and gone to his apartment where she’d found him in that predicament.

Kent had interviewed the co-worker and found that the victim was very politically engaged, and that he often got into huge arguments on public forums online, so he was currently pouring over the forums, matching the victim’s adversaries’ online names to their real life counterparts.

Mansell was likewise planted at his desk looking at CCTV footage from a shop around the corner, while Riley was filing reports from statements she had gotten while going door to door in the apartment, trying to find out if anyone had seen or heard anything unusual.

Miles and Chandler had just come back from the morgue, and Chandler had retreated into his office, when suddenly an old acquaintance entered the incident room.  The team looked up in surprise as all recognized her to be DI Norroy. She walked purposefully towards Chandler’s office, when Miles got in her way.

Norroy put her arms across her chest and made a point of how much she had to look down at Miles by turning her head downwards more than was required.

“What do you want?” Miles said gruffly.

“To discuss this matter with a Detective of my own rank is what I want, sergeant,” she made a move to get past him, but Miles mirrored her and stepped to the side along with her.

“I’ll get him for you. Mind giving me a hint of what to say to him?” Miles said.

“It’s about the murder you’re investigating. We believe it’s another victim of the murderer that we’ve been investigating for some time, and we would like you to hand over any information that you might’ve gotten already.”

Mansell snorted, Riley sighed audibly and Kent stared intensely at her. Norroy glanced around at the team, but decided to ignore them.

“And what makes you think you’re entitled to this case?” Miles challenged, just as Chandler came out of his office.

“DI Norroy?” He asked.

“The papers have already named the killer “The Richmond Strangler”, I think it’s quite obvious who gets to handle the case, so if you would, DI Chandler,” she looked up at him with a cold stare. “Please hand over any information that you’ve gotten on this murder.”

“What? Not even a please?” Miles still challenged her. Chandler sent him a stare, but given that Miles was facing away from him, he didn’t notice.

 “Oh, I shan’t waste my time on manners with the kind of welcome I’ve been given,” DI Norroy said sarcastically.

“Well given your history with this team, you’ll forgive us that we’re not exactly pleased to be working with you again,” Miles said matter of frankly squaring up against her.

“Miles” Chandler said raising his voice, but DI Norroy answered him straight away.

“Oh don’t worry. Unlike last time, we’re not looking to collaborate. We just want you to…”

“Hand over any information that we’ve gotten already? Yeah you said that,” Miles interrupted.

She kept her gaze fixed on him, but when she talked it was Chandler she addressed.

“Your team has gotten even more unprofessional since I was last here. And I who thought you were a good and clearcut DI, Chandler.”

Chandler stepped forward. “Look we’ve a job to do, so let’s just stay professional and not stoop down to the level, alright?”

“Ha!” Norroy exclaimed. “Funny how that comment seemed directed at me with that team of yours!”

“I warn you lady!” Miles growled.

“Miles!” Chandler said as a warning of his own.

Miles stepped down and in her victory, Norroy continued: “An old DS can be replaced, a joker DC can be reprimanded, but a DI in a relationship with his DC? And you’re one to talk about being professional.”

Chandler looked like one big question mark.

“Oh don’t give me that. Don’t you think I noticed DC Kent already the first time?” Norroy asked.

Kent who was still sitting at his desk froze. He could already feel the flush on his cheeks.

“Kent?” Chandler sounded even more perplexed.

“Kent,” she repeated. “With his longing gaze in those puppy eyes. That’s not something that belongs in the workspace. Save that for when you get home!”

Kent stared at a pen on his desk, too mortified to do or say anything.

Chandler walked in long strides towards his fellow DI.

“How dare you!” he said. “How dare you insinuate something like that,” he raised his voice. “Have you never seen what a dedicated worker looks like before?”

DI Norroy smiled. “Did I hit a sore spot? You’re obviously aware that what you’re doing is wrong, right?”

Chandler was fuming. “I’ve never met someone who would stoop so low in an argument. I think it’s time to leave. I’ll send you the information we’ve gathered and hopefully this will be the end of this cooperation,” he said and before she could come up with a retort, Chandler turned around, his hands already fumbling to open a jar of tiger balm.

Miles stared at Norroy without saying a word until she, with a smile, left the incident room.

Kent didn’t miss the sympathetic glances sent his way, but he chose to focus on his computer screen. When he was sure that Norroy was completely gone, he left the incident room to call Erica.

“Hi Em,” she said.

“Hey Erica, are you free for lunch? I need to talk to you,” Kent said quietly.

“What’s wrong? Is someone hurt?” Erica was instantly alert.

“Not physically,” Kent said, but he didn’t elaborate.

“Alright, I’ll meet you by the station,” Erica said.

“Thanks!”

“Of course, Em. See you then,” Erica said.

“See you,” Kent hung up and made his way back to his desk. He couldn’t help but notice how distressed Chandler looked in his office before he sat back down.

 

Erica was already waiting for him when he got outside and together they made their way to a nearby café.

Erica didn’t probe into what was bothering Kent until they’d given their order.

“Alright, so what’s bothering you so much that you need my moral support before going back to work?” she asked.

Kent smiled weakly. She always read him like an open book. He’d resisted crying at the station, but now that he was with someone he loved and trusted, tears were already starting to form in his eyes.

“D’you remember that lovely DI, Norroy, we had a couple of years ago?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, she’s sort of working with the team again.”

“And she’s THAT bad?” Erica chuckled.

Kent didn’t respond, and she stopped to let him continue.

“The team didn’t take too kindly to her, so she decided to stir things up again…. As she does.” He went quiet again.

“Em, stop being so dramatic. What did she do?” Erica said.

“She told Chandler that his and my relationship was unprofessional and that we should quote unquote leave it at home.”

“What?!” Erica was already as outraged as he expected her to be.

Kent kind of wanted to leave it there and just let Erica rant about Norroy, but that wasn’t why he was there.

“Erica,” he said to draw her attention even though he already had it undivided. “The worst part about it all was him. You should have seen his reaction. He was so offended, so DISGUSTED! I mean, I know I haven’t taken all my chances and that it’s mostly just been a silly dream, but…” His voice cracked at the end and since he didn’t know how to finish the sentence anyway, he just kept quiet.

Erica still looked mad.

“He looked disgusted?!” She asked indignantly.

“Well I am his subordinate. It is highly inappropriate. Trust me, I’ve thought about this countless times.”

“Urgh Em, I’m so sorry that was his reaction!”

“Well he doesn’t know! He was defending me - us. He even told her what a dedicated worker I am.”

“So we met up for you to defend him, is that it?” Erica teased him.

Kent huffed. “I know you, Erica. If I gave you permission to hate him for making me cry, you would. Please direct that towards Norroy. She put him in a very difficult position.”

“She put YOU in a very difficult position.”

“Yeah,” Kent agreed. Once again, he wished he could just end the conversation there, but he had to get to the core of it. “So what do I do, Erica? I’m not even sure I can look him in the eyes after this.”

“You barely could before,” she smiled.

“You’re not helping,” Kent said, but it did manage to bring out a small smile.

“Honestly, it sounds to me like he thought it was just part of Norroy’s lashing out at your team. He doesn’t blame you for something she said.”

“But he’s a detective. He might have been oblivious before, because he’s, well, Chandler, unlike the rest of them.”

“You really don’t hide your emotions well.”

“I know. But now that he’s made aware, he’s bound to notice. It’s gotta be really uncomfortable. Everything is going to change.”

“I know you’re not gonna like this, but I think you should take a chance then.”

Kent cringed. “That was not what I wanted to hear.”

“Well you can’t let this be an unsaid thing between the two of you. If you take the bull by the horns so the subject is out in the open, you’ll probably prevent too much of a change if nothing else happens.”

“Look at you being optimistic. Of course nothing else is gonna happen.”

“Either way, it’s your best option. It’s always better to talk about things,” Erica took his hand and looked him in the eyes to tell that she was serious.

Kent sighed. “Of course you’re right, but you know me. I don’t know if I can do it.”

“I know how hard stuff like that is for you, but you’ve survived attacks and betrayal and bounced back from it. You’re strong, Em, even if this can’t be directly compared to that.”

“Well sort of bounced back. I already told you what was going through my mind, when you started going out with Mansell.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over that. Everyone at the station had their share of problems at the time, remember? It was such a bad work environment.”

Kent didn’t say anything else, and he didn’t touch anymore of his food. The nerves had gotten to him already. He knew better than not to follow his sister’s advice even if it would put him in a deeply uncomfortable situation.

 

All of the DCs were out for lunch. Mansell had asked him if he’d join them as he’d grabbed his coat, but Miles had politely declined. Chandler hadn’t been out of his office since Norroy had left and he knew he had to have a chat with him.

He knocked at the glass panel as he opened the door to the office.

Chandler was in the middle of rearranging his desk and the smell of tiger balm was heavy in the small enclosed space.

“What is it?” Chandler looked up.

“It’s lunchtime. Wanna go out and grab a bite or should I get us something from the canteen?”

“I’m not hungry,” Chandler replied shortly and diverted his attention to the desk again as if he expected their conversation to be over.

Miles closed the door to the room, despite none of the DCs being there, to imply that this was not the case.

“Boss, we need to talk.”

“About what?” Miles almost thought that Chandler looked scared at the notion.

“About DI Norroy and the things she said, but you’re a detective so you already knew that. How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better, but we’ve already sent her the information that we have, so we won’t have to deal with her again. I’ll just need some time to myself and it’ll be alright.”

Miles settled down in the chair across from Chandler, despite the fact that his assurances that things were gonna be fine had an air of finality to them.

“I’m glad to hear you say that. Then we can get on to the second reason why I’m here: Kent.”

“Oh no, Kent. He got caught up in all of this, didn’t he? I’m sure it was an attack on me. I’m sorry he was collateral damage,” Chandler said and Miles didn’t know whether to grin or sigh at his boss’ obliviousness. “How is he?”

“It’s hard to say. He got away as soon as the break started. But I know one thing and that’s that Norroy’s words weren’t the only ones that got to him.”

“What do you mean?”

Miles sighed. “The kid is gonna hate me for this. I promised never to say anything, but DI Norroy didn’t just grab her assumptions out of thin air. DC Kent has feelings for you, and I’m sure your reaction, understandable as it was, got to him.”

Chandler didn’t respond.

“Look I’m only telling you this to avoid anyone on the team getting hurt. The lad has been smitten for a while now, and all has worked well, so I’m not saying it can’t continue to be that way, but perhaps if it’s addressed directly, well… Now you’re aware. Please let him down in a more gentle manner than yelling at DI Norroy.”

With that, Miles left his office, and Chandler was left to think about what was just revealed to him. He couldn’t comprehend how he could be a DI and still be so unobservant, but he’d really just seen Kent as an eager hardworking employee. Well he still was, but maybe his attentiveness to him when he was talking wasn’t always about the case, and then there was his smile whenever he was congratulated for a job well done. Everyone wants to have their good work recognized, but the small happy smile was often accompanied by Kent looking down like he was… flattered?

He suddenly remembered that tiny interaction before everything had gone wrong with the Abrahamian’s case.

_Sir. A few of us are going to the pub. A bit of a celebration. Um, would you like to join me… us?_

The team often did things together, so Chandler hadn’t thought anything more of it. It had never happened anyway. Given the following news, there wasn’t really cause for a celebration then, but looking back on it, did it mean more than he’d originally thought?

He didn’t know what to feel about this. DI Norroy was right. This was highly unprofessional, but at least Kent hadn’t let it interfere with his work. He really was one of the most dedicated workers Chandler could think of and he wasn’t about to transfer him for something as silly as a crush. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to confront the whole thing either, so during the course of the break he decided to just ignore the whole thing. It was probably for the best anyway, and Kent would probably recover without him bringing up the topic. He’d done worse things to hurt Kent in the past, he realized, and was actually a bit confused as to how the man could have feelings for him, when he’d betrayed his trust so much in the past. He put it down to Kent’s nature. He was a good man, but that was all Chandler could see him as, or so he thought.

When Kent came back at the end of the break, Chandler couldn’t help but take extra notice of him. As he entered the incident room, his eyes briefly met Chandler’s and he quickly looked down and proceeded to his desk. Chandler noticed the slight limp he sometimes had after the Kray’s attack and felt a pang of guilt. He still hadn’t gotten over the fact that he’d sent Kent out there alone during those dangerous times. No, he really didn’t know how Kent could have forgiven him for everything.

There weren’t many reasons to talk to the team for the rest of the day. They were basically without a case at the moment, but at one point, Chandler remembered some files that had to be taken down to Buchan. His first instinct was to ask Kent to do it, but he had second thoughts for a moment. This had every potential to end up being awkward and Chandler didn’t exactly have the interpersonal graces to keep awkward situations at bay. Still, he armed himself with some tiger balm to the temples and decided to ask Kent anyway. This wasn’t gonna ruin anything, he’d promised himself.

As he approached Kent’s desk, Kent looked up for a short moment but he immediately looked down again. Chandler noticed how he’d almost frozen to the point of not breathing, and he knew that it was up to him to act as natural as possible.

“Kent. Can you take these files down to Buchan’s?” Chandler asked as he placed the files on Kent’s desk. Kent only looked at the files and not up at him, but the usual “yes sir!” followed by immediate action was so familiar to Chandler that he even found himself smiling. Everything was still the same.

 

The next couple of days everything really did seem to go back to normal, and when Friday came around, Chandler didn’t even have second thoughts about going to Mansell’s birthday party. Though many of the team gatherings weren't really his cup of tea, Chandler always found himself having a rather good time despite it. This was mostly due to the fact that the team seemed to appreciate it so much that he’d go out of his comfort zone for them, so it was worth it to accept an invitation when he was given one.

He’d been a bit afraid of doing something informal with the team so close after hearing about Kent, especially since he kept thinking about it, but he’d realized that it would be a silly excuse to not go, so he went and he even offered to be a designated driver to anyone who needed it.

The party was held in a pub, and it didn’t take long before most of the team were hammered and dancing to a variety of music that wasn’t exactly to Chandler’s taste, but he just enjoyed seeing the team so relaxed. The atmosphere in the incident room had gotten a lot better since the whole Louise Iver thing, but it still tended to be tense, so this was a nice change.

Most of the evening was spent next to Miles whose alcohol intake was more moderate than the rest of the team. He mostly just nursed a scotch while engaging the boss in conversation.

“You’re sure you’re not gonna dance this time?” Miles asked. “Even Buchan’s showing us his moves, as they say.”

Chandler furrowed his brow. “Who says that?”

Miles shrugged. “I dunno, and if you’ll excuse me. Nature calls.”

With that, Miles left, but his seat wasn’t to be available for long.

“Mind if I sit down? My feet are killing me. I knew I shouldn’t have worn my heels to a Finlay party. There’s always so much dancing,” a curly haired woman said smiling. Chandler recognized her as Kent’s twin sister, Erica, even though they’d never formally met.

“No, that’s okay,” Chandler replied.

Erica took her seat and put out her hand. “I’m Erica, Emerson’s sister.”

Chandler shook it. “DI Chandler. It’s easy to see the resemblance. You and Kent look very much alike.”

Erica laughed. “Well I should think so since I _am_ Kent. Don’t you think that since you’re off duty, you should refer to people with their given name?”

“It doesn’t come that naturally to me,” Chandler admitted.

“Well, I don’t think the orange juice is gonna help with that, though I am thankful there are some responsible people among you lot. Both of my men are so far gone down the rabbit hole that is alcohol. Ray just had to guide Finlay to the restroom and Emerson has lost any sense of rational thought. I honestly think they both need to be driven home soon, and I’d do it, except with Finlay gone before the end of the party, I’d be left with hostess duties, but I can’t let him stay here much longer, cause we have to celebrate his birthday with his family tomorrow. I’m sorry for ranting to you, but could you drive them home for me?”

“Of course. That is at least partly what I’m here for,” Chandler said and Erica let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.

“Thank you so much for doing this! Do you have the addresses or should I write them down for you, cause I’m not entirely sure how reliable those two will be to tell you.”

“Better write them down then,” Chandler smiled, as he scanned the crowd for any sign of Kent or Mansell.

Erica grabbed a pen and some paper from her bag and wrote the information down.

“I’ll find them for you,” she assured when she saw him looking over the dancing crowd. “Thanks again!”

She disappeared, and a while later she came back with her arms linked with the two DC’s, whose walking looked less than steady.

“… should be more days in a weekend so they didn’t have to be literally next to each other,” Mansell’s words could be heard as they approached.

“You ready?” Erica asked Chandler who stood up. “I’ll follow you out to the car.”

“Thanks,” Chandler said. Both of the DCs looked quite scruffy, which was a bit off putting to him, but he’d known what risk he and his car was taking when he’d agreed to this

“It’s too soon to end a party!” Mansell yelled as they reached the door and with his unlinked arm he put a fist in the air, but Erica nudged him out the door. Kent didn’t protest at all. He was resting his head on Erica’s shoulder and looked like he could fall asleep any moment.  

Both of them got into the backseat of the car, and Erica thanked Chandler once more before heading back indoors.

“You know how grateful I am that you and Erica got together, right?” Chandler heard Kent say as he got in the car and started driving.

“Mate, that’s a big old lie!” Mansell responded.

“No I mean, she’s happy. You’re actually a good guy, Mansell. If my sister’s happy, I’m happy. And you….. you’re a good guy,” Kent mumbled.

“I’m a bored guy!” Mansell exclaimed. “Hey boss, do you know any good places we can go and party on?”

Chandler didn’t know what to respond, so he didn’t.

“Come on! It’s Friday night, we gotta go wild!” Mansell continued, and he kept stating that until Chandler finally reached his home.

“Alright, I get it,” he said as he saw where they were. “I get it. Duty calls tomorrow!”

He got out of the car with ease, said goodbye in a voice that was just a bit too loud, and then walked to the door. Chandler watched him as he got into the house safely before he drove away.

The next part of the drive was much more quiet. Kent didn’t say anything and Chandler wasn’t good at small talk, so he just concentrated on driving.

When he reached Kent’s flat, he realized that the silence was due to the fact that Kent had fallen asleep. His face was pressed against the window, and his mouth was slightly open. It wasn’t the most flattering of poses, but Chandler enjoyed seeing his DC calm like this. He always seemed to be on edge in some way, whether it was just to do with the seriousness of work, out of frustration or of nervousness, but as he sat there in the backseat it was as if every worry in the world had left him, and Chandler couldn’t help but go over his features several times.

He jolted back in surprise, when he realized that he had spent an amount of time looking at his sleeping DC that was definitely too high.

“Kent!” he said trying to wake him up, but if Mansell’s volume hadn’t done the trick, his attempt wasn’t gonna work either, so he got out of the car to open the door Kent was leaning up against. Kent’s sleeping frame just sort of followed the door as it opened until he reached a certain angle, where he caught himself and sat upright again.

“Kent, you’re home,” Chandler told him, and Kent looked a bit disorientated as he looked up at Chandler. Then he smiled.

“Thanks sir!” He tried to get out of the car, but just standing up he seemed a bit unsteady, and Chandler worried a bit about the young DC.

“Do you need help up the stairs?” he asked in concern.

“Would you?” Kent looked appreciative as he steadied himself with a hand on top of the car.

Chandler decided to follow Erica’s lead, and held out his arm, for Kent to link his arm with. The walk up the apartment was a bit wobbly, but they managed. Upon seeing the door to his apartment, Kent immediately leant up against it.

“Thanks sir,” he said and then he grinned. “I-I don’t know where my keys are!”

Chandler was instantly worried. Had he lost them? What was he gonna do then? Drive him back to Erica to take care of him?

“Where do you usually have them?” He asked.

“In my pockets,” he said and stared directly at Chandler, but looking into the hazel eyes that were foggy with alcohol, it seemed as if he wasn’t actually looking at anything. “I haven’t checked them!” He announced and then he giggled.

Chandler was absolutely dumbfounded. He’d never seen his DC like this, which was the reason for his immediate reaction, but afterwards he had to suppress a smile recalling the sound of Kent’s giggle.

“Well then check your pockets, detective constable,” Chandler said trying to get this situation moving. It was uncomfortable to him on several levels.

“Mmm, would you do it?” Kent asked, once more leaving Chandler completely shocked.

“No!” was his only response, but Kent didn’t really seem to notice it. He just lazily checked his pockets, found the keys immediately and went to open the door, which he succeeded at after a couple of tries. Chandler just stood and watched him, and when he’d opened the door, he felt a sense of relief that he could escape this situation that had gotten way stranger than he’d imagined.

“Thanksgainsssir,” Kent mumbled as he sauntered into the apartment, not closing the door behind him.

“You’re welcome,” Chandler said as he leant in to close the door behind the DC. He grabbed the handle and glanced up at Kent whose leg all of a sudden gave out underneath him making him fall to the ground.

Chandler hesitated with his hand still on the handle. It was only a fall but he had to check that Kent was alright, otherwise he’d have failed at this whole getting people home safely thing.

Everything about Kent’s lazy drunkenness had disappeared in an instant. His jaw clenched, his eyes seemed much clearer and his hands were balled into fists.

With no warning, he started slamming his fists into the ground and yelled:

“Why can’t you just go away?!”

Chandler was taken aback, and for a moment, he thought the words were directed at him, but Kent continued.

“I just want to forget. But those freaking scars just won’t let me, and I think I’m better. I think I’m better, but I’m not. Not when it’s so easily brought back to this. It’s just so fucking useless to try to get past it, but I can’t deal with this anymore. It’s been YEARS!”

Chandler felt wrong, like he’d stumbled upon something deeply private, that he had no right to be a part of, but his heart hurt, thinking that he was the reason Kent was feeling this way. If he’d never waged war against the Kray’s, this would never have happened. If Kent felt this bad, how on earth could he not blame Chandler for all of this?

Chandler was completely frozen. He shouldn’t be here and his instincts told him to leave before he heard anything else that he wasn’t supposed to, but then Kent started crying. Big ugly sobs that contrasted so starkly with the sleeping Kent, Chandler had admired before, and he couldn’t take it. He closed the door behind him as he went into the apartment, and knelt down next to Kent to help him up. Kent jolted when Chandler put his hand gently between his shoulder blades. He clearly hadn’t noticed that Chandler was still there, and for a moment his hazel eyes stared at him wide with fear, before recognition settled in.

Chandler offered him a hand, and he took it without saying a word. He stood up shakily, and his leg was just about to give out under him again, when Chandler caught him, and he leant his shoulder up against Chandler’s chest for support. With one arm still around Kent’s shoulder, Chandler noticed how he was shaking, and he felt injustice surge within him. Kent wasn’t supposed to feel this way.

As Kent leant against him, slowly his head fell against Chandler’s chest to rest there, which at first irked Chandler as he instantly felt the wetness soaking into his shirt, and his mind ran wild with the image of tears and snot, but he kept still and let Kent be where he was. Kent had stopped shaking, and almost as if he was dealing with a scared animal, Chandler didn’t dare to move now that he’d seemed to calm down. As they stood there, Chandler noticed how Kent’s breathing became steadier and steadier until it almost resembled the slow rhythm of someone sleeping.

Chandler was surprised at how he almost didn’t feel uncomfortable as they stood there. It was hard for him to come up with a reasonable reason, but he did know that he couldn’t bear seeing Kent hurt, and if this was what it took for him to not be, then this was what he was willing to do.

He’d seen people get hurt before, but the only time he could recall getting an emotion so intense in response to it, was when he saw Kent on his way to surgery after he’d been striped. He looked so small and sad, and his worry had immediately been that he wouldn’t be able to help Chandler with the investigation. Back then Chandler had written the feeling off as some sort of justice feeling, which became more plausible as it turned out that their team would soon be the only ones chasing true justice in a corrupt system.

When Morgan had died, Chandler had felt broken, like he couldn’t feel a thing at all, and he’d taken it out on everyone, but especially Kent, who had been against her and who had been the last to see her. Every time he reprimanded or ignored Kent, he’d felt worse than before and now it dawned on him, that he was actually making it worse for himself every time he saw the DC’s hurt face in response to how he acted.

All of these thoughts came to him as he slowly swayed back and forth. He smiled looking down at the mop of curls pressed against his chest, but in a split second that was taken from him as Kent violently broke the connection between them and stumbled across the room to steady himself on the back of the couch. His breathing instantly becoming rapid again.

“I’m so sorry, sir! I didn’t mean to! And your shirt!” His eyes were already wide and glistening again, and Chandler even felt hurt at Kent’s reaction. He ached seeing Kent so apologetic towards _him._ Kent thought that he had done something wrong, and Chandler wanted to assure him that he hadn’t, but the words didn’t come to him. All he could think of was the panicked look on Kent’s face.

“I’ve ruined it. How much is it?” Kent fumbled in his pocket to get out his wallet. “I know it doesn’t help much, but I could buy you a new shirt, sir.”

“No it’s okay,” Chandler said quietly. It still bothered him that Kent was so adamant about making this a problem, but he’d realized that Kent had spent years trying not to act on his feelings, and he probably felt like he’d failed by getting so close to him.

Kent held his gaze for a short moment before looking down at the floor like he’d been defeated.

“I’m sorry sir,” he whispered, and Chandler who had also been thrown off of his content feelings of just standing there, suddenly felt a myriad of thoughts clawing to get his attention. He’d been through a roller coaster of emotions since he’d parked by the apartment, and now his mind was trying to make sense of them all at once. He fumbled in his pockets for the tiger balm, but he’d left it in the car. His head hurt, and he had to get out.

“Bye Kent” he said, exiting as quickly as possible.

“Bye sir,” Kent said after the door had closed behind Chandler.

 

Monday came way too quickly for Kent’s taste. He dreaded what the day would bring, but he forced himself to go to work anyway.

The entire weekend he’d reflected on how he’d ever been so weak to harass Chandler in that way, and how he must have itched all over, after his snot had tainted the shirt and to an extent his chest.

So much for Erica’s advice about taking the bull by the horns.

He had been in the middle of gathering courage. He would seek out Chandler, tell him the truth and insure him that he would keep everything exactly as professional, if not even more, as it had always been. That had been a good security to avoid making Chandler too uncomfortable. Kent was very aware that the thought of relationships didn’t come easy to him, and that the fact that his underling was enamoured  with him, would be even worse, so offering the professional relationship straight from the get go might be a way to make sure he didn’t get too freaked out. But Kent could hardly promise a professional relationship when he had acted as unprofessional as he had.

If he stripped the entire thing of the intimacy of him leaning against Chandler’s chest, there was also the fact that he had seen his tantrum as he’d fallen to the ground. Maybe he wouldn’t just put Kent up for a transfer, but advice him to quit the force entirely on the grounds that his psyche wasn’t strong enough to handle the job. That would have been his own thoughts, had he seen another grown man acting like he did.

With these thoughts burning in his mind, it was with a heavy heart that he arrived at the incident room that morning. He kept a watchful eye over Chandler, who was sitting in his office.

There’d been a mugging gone wrong during the night, and the people on duty had found CCTV from the nearby area, so Kent busied himself looking through the footage, while Chandler was busy with interviews.

When Chandler came back to the incident room, he went straight to his office, to Kent’s relief.

The footage turned out to have a good view of the mugging. The mugger had been aware of the cameras at first, and avoided them, but when the victim put up a fight, he’d been forced into the view of the camera, which was excellent for the team, only Kent wasn’t keen to share his find.

“Hey Mansell,” he called out.

“What is it, mate? You found him?” Mansell asked curiously.

“Yeah, can you just come over he…”

“Hey boss!” Mansell gestured happily with a hand in the air. “Kent has found something on CCTV!”

Kent stared at Mansell for a good moment, before he shot up from the chair. “Excuse me, I have to go…” He said and bolted out of the room.

He hid in the bathroom, and when he came back to the incident room, he looked through the glass to make sure Chandler wasn’t in there still. Kent was glad to see that he wasn’t even in his office, so he entered.

He was instantly met with a quizzical look from Mansell.

“What’s up with you, mate? You embarrassed that you called me a good guy the other day? Or regretting that you said you were happy me and Erica got together?” Mansell smirked.

Kent rolled his eyes. “My line of reasoning still stands. As long as Erica is happy, I’m happy,” Kent said as he found his seat again.

“Then what is it? A tummy ache?” Mansell grinned as he leant closer to Kent.

“Are you serious? Mansell!” Kent snapped at him.

“Alright alright, I’m only having a bit of a laugh,” Mansell said as he casually refound his position in the chair.

“Hey you lot. Haven’t seen a whole lot of you today. Been talking to witnesses all day.” Riley walked in.

“Hi Riley.”

“Hey.”

“You both left early this Friday. I didn’t even get to say bye,” she said.

“It was by the orders of Erica. She sent us home in the boss cab,” Mansell explained.

“Oh dear, I don’t hope any of you spewed in the boss’ car,” Riley laughed.

“Well I didn’t. I don’t know about Kent. He was the last one to be dropped off. Wait a minute, is that why you practically teleported out of the room, when he entered? Did you throw up in the car?” Mansell realized and Kent was instantly uncomfortable.

“No!”

“What then? On his shoes?”

Kent turned his back to him. Him protesting wouldn’t make it any better, and he was scared that any more guessing would get uncomfortably close to the truth.

“Oi Mansell, leave it. I need you down at Buchan’s. That was why I came here in the first place.”

“Alright,” Mansell snickered as he left the incident room, and Kent cursed their nosiness, but it was nice being alone for a moment. He decided to update the whiteboard with the photo of the mugger that his screen was currently paused on, but the moment he got up to get the picture from the printer, he saw Chandler enter the room. He froze for a moment, but continued to the printer. He was doing proper work so there wasn’t any reason for him to stop, but the moment he reached the printer, he heard Chandler’s voice.

“Kent, can I see you in my office for a moment?”

“Yes sir,” the words found their way out of his mouth as naturally as ever, despite his mouth going as dry as the paper he was holding onto.

The moment he’d dreaded all day had finally arrived, and Kent was already debating whether to just start the conversation by saying he could file for a transfer or to wait until Chandler had spoken. He settled on the latter as that seemed the most polite, and wow did he have a lot of politeness to catch up to.

“Sir?” He said as he closed the door behind him. Chandler was already seated at his desk.

“Take a seat, Kent,” Chandler said. It all seemed very formal. Kent felt like throwing up, so maybe Mansell’s jokes were about to come true. He did as he was asked, but kept his eyes firmly on the desk. That was impolite, wasn’t it? Oh well, he couldn’t bring himself to look Chandler in the eye on a normal day, never mind at a time like this.

“I’ve been very retrospective this weekend,” Chandler started out, seemingly choosing his words carefully.

“I could file for a transfer if you want me to, sir!” Kent burst out before he even thought about it.

Chandler’s brow furrowed.

“No, Kent. I don’t want you to transfer. Please, just hear me out,” he said.

His voice was very gentle which made Kent look up just for a moment.

“I’ve been thinking about what happened”

Kent winced. They were really doing this.

“And I’ve come to a conclusion, and I think I better lead with this: You did nothing wrong, Kent.”

Kent kept his head low and kept quiet.

“I thought about Norroy’s words. How she said that a relationship between a DI and his DC was highly unprofessional.”

“I know, sir. I’m sorry,” Kent blurted out again glancing up at Chandler, and judging by his expression this was not the right time to interrupt, which he almost wanted to apologize for, but he went silent again. 

“But our relationship hasn’t been unprofessional. You’re the most dedicated member of the team, and you’ve been all this time. That’s not unprofessional. You know what is though? It’s the things we do outside of our profession, and people like Norroy don’t have any say in that, luckily. You’ve certainly proved that work and personal relationships can be separated from each other, so that just leaves me to prove myself.”

“Sir?” Kent was trying so hard to make sense of this without getting his hopes up. He couldn’t fathom how anything could have led to what he was hearing right now. Chandler had practically run out of his apartment the other day.

“I was wondering whether Emerson and Joe could have a drink together after DC Kent and DI Chandler get off work today.”

Kent met his DI’s eyes. There was no other possible interpretation of those words, and Chandler sent him a small smile. It wasn’t until now that Kent noticed the signs of nervousness in Chandler, and while he still didn’t have a clue of what was happening, he got the feeling that this was real. A smile sprang to his face as he quickly responded “of course!” as if the offer would be retracted if he didn’t answer fast enough.

They just stared at each other for a moment both of their smiles growing wider. Kent’s cause he could see the genuine joy in Chandler’s face and knew that this was real, and Chandler cause with that simple question, the worry in Kent’s face had been washed away.

The door to the office was quickly opened.

“Sorry to interrupt your meeting, but we have an ID on the suspect!” Miles said, and both of the men instantly jumped into action.

 

It was the easiest arrest they’d had in a while, and the greatest thing about it was that they got the killer in alive, even if it had been a more simple crime than most of the crimes they were used to.

They’d broken the curse, for lack of a better word, of never catching a killer alive a while ago, but that didn’t mean that the spirits weren’t extra high still, when they got that experience. This meant that Kent got to spend the evening at the station admiring Chandler’s happy face from afar.

“Oi Kent. What do you say we celebrate this tonight? We could finally find you some guy that isn’t above your rank,” Mansell offered as he leant up against Kent’s desk.

“Oh no thanks. I’m fine,” Kent said.

“Are you really though? Don’t you want your sister to have someone to drunkenly thank for making you happy as well?”

Kent smiled at the words while never taking his eyes off of Chandler. “Are you ever going to let me live that one down?”

“I promise not to say a word if you come with tonight,” Mansell grinned.

“Sorry Mansell, but no,” Kent said.

“Alright, grandpa,” Mansell said as he shook his head.

The workday slowly came to an end, and Kent was feeling way too nervous to sit still. He started fidgeting with a pen, as he saw his colleagues leave one after one, soon only leaving him, Chandler and Miles. 

“You look awfully happy today. Anything happening after work?” Kent could hear Miles comment as he stood in the doorway to Chandler’s office.

“It’s just the rush of the job when we have a high for once,” Chandler said walking up to Miles, but it didn’t go unnoticed to Kent, that he glanced over at him with a smile. Apparently it didn’t go unnoticed to Miles either as he turned around to look at him.

“Does that pen require that much attention that you have to stay after work?” he asked, and Kent immediately put the pen down. Miles looked from one of them to the other. “Don’t worry lads, I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight Skip!”

“Goodnight Miles.”

They were both frozen for a moment as Miles left the incident room, then Chandler turned to get his coat.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes sir!” Kent responded immediately as he jumped up and got his own coat.

Chandler laughed a bit nervously. “If we’re doing this. Perhaps we could forget about the “sir”, just for the evening?”

“I’m sorry s- I just never thought there’d be a day where I didn’t have to…” Kent looked a bit sheepish as he trailed off.

“It’s alright. We both have to figure it out, Emerson,” Chandler smiled, and Kent’s heart seemed like it was ready to bounce out of his chest. Of course he’d had fantasies where his crush had brought him somewhere useful, but to go from thinking the day would bring a transfer to ending up sitting in Chandler’s car on the way to a nearby pub was almost too much.

They found a booth and both ordered a beer.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to stay here a while since we have the car,” Chandler said and Kent was more than fine with that.

At first they talked about work. About the day’s events. About things to do the next day. About the team. It came the easiest to them as it wasn’t far from their usual chats whenever the team did something together, but it didn’t seem to break the ice, and Kent was too curious about what could have led from Friday’s events to Chandler taking initiative to do this, so he had to ask.

“Joe,” it was the first time Kent had used Chandler’s first name ever and to him, it didn’t even seem to belong to Chandler, but his little head turn at hearing his name and the attentive eyes he had on Kent made him want to use the word all of the time. “This Friday when you… held me,” he could feel his cheeks blush at the words. “I thought I’d overstepped the boundaries, no not overstepped, that I was so far across the boundaries that I couldn’t even see them anymore. I thought you did it cause of some sense of duty to my weak self.” Kent whispered the last couple of words and looked down. He still hated that Chandler had had to see that.

“Well I don’t know what I thought. I knew I had to help you, but it turned out to just be nice. Standing there, I felt at ease, and I’d never experienced that before and it was so hard for my mind to make sense of afterwards, but in the moment it was like my mind had turned off,” Chandler explained.

“Thanks, for doing it,” Kent smiled at him, but annoyed at himself as he was he continued: “Though I’m so sorry you had to see that. I promise I’m not that weak. It’s just sometimes it gets too much.” He could feel the tears starting to form in his eyes. So much for not being weak.

“I’ve never seen you as weak, Emerson, never,” Chandler said as he moved closer to Kent in the booth. Kent was desperately trying to keep his tears back. He was on his dream date, how could he be crying? This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Chandler sat next to him and without saying a word he put an arm around him. They sat in silence for a while. Kent put his head on Chandler’s shoulder and the comfort he felt took away the blame he’d just put on himself for crying.

“How are you so good to me?” Kent asked, but Chandler only responded with a soft kiss to his forehead and Kent curled up even closer in Chandler’s embrace.

Time stretched as they sat there. Kent was torn between the happiness and the part of his mind that still loudly insisted that all of this was too good to be true, but Chandler was there. He was really there and his hand slowly reached the curls at the base of Kent’s neck. It send a shiver down his spine and he looked up at Chandler with a smile. His sudden movement made Chandler retract his hand, as if he’d been afraid he’d gone too far, but Kent drew closer to tell him that that wasn’t the case. He kept Chandler’s gaze for a while. Everything they did around each other seemed calculated and cautious. None of them were entirely sure what the others limits were, but Kent decided it was his turn to make a move, and he quickly closed in for a kiss. It was short and sweet, still just testing the waters, and when Chandler didn’t run away screaming, Kent closed the gap between them again. This time Chandler joined in, and Kent almost huffed in relief. They drew away from each other, not wanting to make a big spectacle at the pub. Kent was unable to hide his smile even as he quickly grabbed his drink and looked at the bottom of it like he was trying to use it as a spyglass. Chandler just sat there, admiring Kent.

“Who could’ve known that a visit from DI Norroy would turn out so good?” Chandler mused out loud.

Kent looked up at him. “Are you really saying that you didn’t know anything before that?”

Now it was Chandler’s turn to look down. “Actually… It wasn’t even her that alerted me to the fact, but Miles was worried about you.”

“Miles told you?” Kent exclaimed. “But he promised!” He was upset for a moment before he realized exactly what that had meant for him, and he made a mental note of coming up with an excuse to gift him a bottle of single malt. “I mean, I’m still surprised you didn’t know earlier. The team, well they haven’t exactly been subtle about it. You’re a terrible detective!” he laughed.

“It’s not really my area of expertise,” Chandler explained. “All I know is that if I hadn’t been told, I wouldn’t have been brave enough to admit anything to myself, and Miles would never have said a word if I hadn’t acted like I did which I wouldn’t have done if it wasn’t for DI Norroy, so what I guess I’m trying to say is, I should send DI Norroy a thank you card.”


End file.
